Friday, December 30, 2016

To end the year, Charlie Sykes website, Right Wisconsin, always has their recipients of wingnut welfare give their predictions for the coming year. Many try and be serious, some try and be witty even though creativity and sense of humor is lacking. One such "contributor" who is the embodiment of this is Kevin Binversie. Binversie is actually employed by RightWisconsin/Bradley Foundation and his attempt at "looking into the crystal ball" brought us this bit of "wisdom":

Yes, Pope Francis has talked about income inequality being the root of much evil in this world, he is the "de facto leader" of "the left" so he must die. Binversie also takes the time to point out that Pope Benedict, the Pope who resigned because he was hiding pedophilia and was taking too much heat, is still alive and well.

Good job Kevin, for showing your true stripes. I can only imagine the faux outrage if these ridiculous words were written on say CogDis.

Its nice that a whose who of far right wing bloggers and operatives stand with Mr. Binversie in his despicably "predicting" the Pope's Death. It is also nice the Charlie Sykes keeps him employed as the face of Right Wisconsin

Welcome to the new right wing voice of reason Charlie Sykes, same as the old extremist arrogant Charlie Sykes, they just changed the packaging.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

He's come up with a big and bold solution to the problem of climate change - ignore it and hope it goes away!

Wisconsin blogger James Rowen writes that Walker has taken the state's webpage dedicated to addressing climate change and had it changed to remove any reference to the word climate. Rowan provides a clear example of just how much Walker mangled the site to make it conform to corporate-driven propaganda:

Click on image to embiggen

The words that show being struck through are the deletions. The words in highlight have been added.

Rowen also shows just how severe the changes were:

This is the text on the page as its freshly updated:

The Great Lakes and a changing world

As it has done throughout the centuries, the earth is going through a change. The reasons for this change at this particular time in the earth’s long history are being debated and researched by academic entities outside the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The effects of such a change are also being debated but whatever the causes and effects, the DNR’s responsibility is to manage our state’s natural resources through whatever event presents itself; flood, drought, tornadoes, ice/snow or severe heat. The DNR staff stands ready to adapt our management strategies in an effort to protect our lakes, waterways, plants, wildlife and people who depend on them.

That is but a fraction of what had been there until earlier today. Gone are references to known “human activities” contributing to a warming planet, warming’s contributions to changes in rainfall and snowfall patterns, extreme weather events, drought, species and economic losses are among other truths whitewashed off this official, taxpayer-financed website.

Chillingly, this entire line – – with its positive message and a call to action – – is now deleted:

The good news is that we can all work to slow climate change and lessen its effects.

Obviously, Walker had to change that page. He could not have simply left it alone when it didn't match up with the corporate talking points he gets paid well to espouse.

Kind of a gutsy move to do, this close to his kicking off another reelection campaign. Then again, maybe not so gutsy, considering that the corporate media isn't even acknowledging the story at all.

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Reince Priebus has been called many things in his career, and now you can add one more - the 13th Apostle. Today on this Christmas Day 2016, Reince Priebus listened the light and released this press release!

"Just as the three wise men did on that night, the Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King.

Either Reince heard the Christmas story for the first time or the new KING we need to celebrate is this guy:

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Much like his hero Donald Trump, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke is an attention whore. And just like Trump, Clarke favorite way of seeking that attention is to send out outrageous and vile tweets.

Clarke's latest venture of going beyond the pale came on Thursday, when he sent out this tweet:

Oh boy! Ain't that Clarke a regular cut up?!

But the gentle reader has probably noticed where Clarke crossed the line again. The picture he used of Obama is from when the president was speaking about the epidemic of gun deaths and the need for more sane gun control laws. When he started talking about the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary where 20 grade school children and six teachers were murdered in cold blood.

Here is the video of Obama's speech. You can see the moment the screencap is taken at about the 1:05 mark.

For Clarke to exploit the tragedy of Sandy Hook, the fourth year anniversary was just a couple of weeks ago, and the high emotions that almost everyone else felt is beyond the pale and shows just how depraved and deplorable Clarke really is.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

The House of Representatives, led by Partying Paul Ryan, adjourned for Holiday recess on December 8th and not due to return anytime soon(they only make $174,000/yr w/Cadillac benefits, we can not expect them to actually work all year!).

While we have come to being used to our career politicians not working, this instance seem especially egregious as Paul Ryan totally shirked his duties as outlined in the Constitution and fulfilled them well according to his owners on Wall St.

House GOP leaders stopped working on an energy reform package this month because they wanted to go to a fundraiser in New York, a Republican Senate chairwoman is charging.Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told the Alaska Journal that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) didn’t hold an end-of-session vote on a compromise energy bill because he and other Republicans had to catch a train to the fundraiser.“The Speaker said ‘We’ve run out of time’ because they wanted to get on the party train,” Murkowski told the newspaper in an interview published late Monday.

Wall St. won, America lost!

The guy from Janesville who loves spending time with his family, showed us that his true family is anyone who will enrich his bank account.

After 23 years of blowing dog whistles, smearing liberals and bullying Republicans that don't toe the line, Charlie Sykes, the Milwaukee-based radio squawker, is finally hanging up his headphones and turning off his microphone. Monday was Sykes' last day on WTMJ-AM.

Ever since then, the right wingers have been gushing about Sykes, ranging from the maudlin to the nauseous. Even the lunatic fringe had to say something nice about him, even though many of them are still pissed because of his #NeverTrump theatrics. Things went so far as having Scott Walker declare Tuesday to have been Charlie Sykes Day in Wisconsin.

As much as Sykes would surely like not to remember these things, the following are the five things that Sykes would rather not have people focus on as that they encapsulate who Sykes really is.

5) Charlie Sykes meets John Doe

Sykes was neck deep in the illegal politicking that Walker used to propel himself into the governor's seat and then onto the national scene as a presidential wannabe. The emails released from the investigation show Sykes receiving numerous emails from Walker's staff - both his campaign staff and his government staff - feeding him the talking points that they wanted Sykes to run with.

Things go the point where Sykes was about to be subpoenaed to testify about his level involvement in the corruption that has taken over the state.

4) Sykes in bed with dark money groups

For now, let's ignore the fact that Sykes' third wife (more on that later) is the director of communications for the extreme right wing Bradley Foundation and he has had a long and incestuous relationship with them. After all, this is not even his most egregious example of being in bed with the dark money groups.

More outrageous is the menage a trois between Sykes, the Wisconsin Club for Growth and his former employer, Journal Broadcasting to give birth to White Wisconsin, er, Right Wisconsin, their deformed and depraved love child:

But in all the reporting so far, what has not been touched are the 800 pound squawking gorillas in the room - Journal Communications, Charlie Sykes and White Right Wisconsin.

White Wisconsin is the result of the unchecked collaboration and collusion between the dark money groups, the corporate media and WISGOP. It is a website that is hosted by Journal Broadcast Group and sponsored by the Wisconsin Club for Growth and "powered" by Charlie Sykes. It offers a free platform for politicians, political operatives and propagandists to spew their vitriol in an effort to sway low information voters into voting against their own best interest.

To add to it, Journal Broadcast Group also allows Sykes to use the airwaves of WTMJ-AM to continue to spew their propaganda, continue the lies and most significantly, give politicians like Scott Walker free air time to do their campaigning.

Let me re-emphasize this.

White Wisconsin is an aggregate website paid for by Wisconsin Club for Growth, a Koch Brothers front group. The website is hosted by Journal Broadcast Group, which includes WTMJ-AM, the home of Charlie Sykes, who is the "power" behind the website. The goal of the website is to promote the Teapublican agenda. And the most ironic part is that the sheeple that actually believe their noise has to pay for it. Presumably, the bulk of this money is going right back to the Koch group to continue their illegal collaborations with political campaigns.

3) Liz Woodhouse

About ten years ago, Sykes introduced a new guest to his show, a woman named "Liz Woodhouse." Sykes said that she wasn't a political operative or anything like that. He described as just a very intelligent and insightful woman who has important things to say.

Later, it was revealed that Liz Woodhouse was a pseudonym for Janet Riorden, who he described as a local chanteuse. He said that he didn't want to reveal her real name out of fear that it would affect her professional life, which in hindsight is highly ironic.

It turns out that Riorden is really the director of communications for the Bradley Foundation. But Sykes and Riorden have an even closer relationship than that. Sykes cheated on his second wife, Justice Diane Sykes, with Riorden. This all came to light when he and Riorden got busted shooting off fireworks in a park after closing time.

After Riorden broke up his happy family, she and Sykes got married.

2) Sykes vs Miranda's rights

More than ten years ago, Sykes penned a column that ran in the Spanish Journal in which he claimed that Robert Miranda had been "one of the organizers of what became a violent shout-down, during which coins, hard candy and ice cubes were thrown at [conservative radio host Mark Belling] during a Pro-America rally at [the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee]."

Sykes' source for this claim was an email he got from "a listener." Sykes claims that when he found out the allegations were utterly false, he scrubbed the post. However, Miranda sued Sykes and his former employer for libel. Just before the hearing was about to start, Journal Broadcasting settled out of court, agreeing to pay a $5,000 scholarship to a student in Milwaukee's South Division High School who wanted to study who wanted to study journalism.

Sadly, instead of apologizing, Sykes tried to play the victim card, claiming it was all an eeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiiil liberal scheme to stifle conservative voices.

Ironically, Sykes also doesn't like to admit that he almost lost his job. The only reason he was allowed to stay on the air was because of the Sykes' union. I still don't understand why Sykes has spent so much time to help in the Republicans' efforts to bust the unions despite one saving his worthless hide.

1) "My evidence...absolutely none."

Like most right wing squawking heads, Sykes is more than willing and able to twist, screw, distort and spin any story to fit their agenda. If that can't be done, he'll gladly conflate it and/or confabulate it. And if that still doesn't work, he'll be more than happy to just make shit up.

In 2010, Sykes accused then Governor Jim Doyle of corruption, claiming that Doyle was using a trip to watch the Badgers play in the Rose Bowl for his political friends and campaign donors. PoliticFact decided to check out the claim and found Sykes' pants to be on fire.

Sykes' response to the reporter who had asked what he based his allegations on was absolutely breathtaking in its arrogance and revealed Sykes' true character:

And Sykes, like his counterpart Mark Belling did awhile back, cheerfully admits he made it up, as though that is perfectly OK:

Many on the left are celebrating that Sykes is now off the air. I am not.

Sykes was able to leave on his own terms instead of being forced out or shamed into it. Furthermore, he's not done polluting the airwaves with his crap. He has a paid gig as a returning guest at MSNBC.

Lastly, there has been rumors that Sykes is planning on running for public office, including possibly a federal seat. The potential of this alone is cause enough not to celebrate, not quite yet anyway.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

If you woke up anywhere near Southeastern Wisconsinm or in the listening area of 620 AM WTMJ , that sweet sound to your ears is the fact that Charlie Sykes is no longer squawking at you.

His gentle tone of "who me?" extremism will not be missed by anyone in the state who does not have right wing political ambitions.

One thing we know about the WISGOP, is they are a bunch of sheep that like to be led. From their reliance on ALEC and Scott Jensen to make decisions for them, to Charlie driving the debate and telling the rest of the hate radio garblers(yes im looking at you Vicki Mckenna, Mark Belling, Jerry Bader, et al.) what to think and discuss that day. Charlie was also important as the safe space for Wisconsin Righties, they knew they could join his show, push their agenda and hit balls off the tee.

Charlie paid such an important part in Scott Walker's ambition political career that the Governor wasted precious Wisconsin resources to declare December 20, 2016 - Charley Sykes day(not kidding).

PS: Jeff Wagner has currently taken over Sykes spot in the morning,. Please be careful operating a motor vehicle while Wagner is on the radio, the side effects are he can make someone very very sleepy!

Hillary Clinton won the election, but a system designed to let a powerful minority override the will of the majority selected some asshole. For now, we have to deal with that bullshit reality, and lots of good people will suffer serious consequences. But don’t feel sorry for the ones who enabled this nightmare by voting for the incoming Trump-Putin administration. For example, why should we weep for the retired coal miners who will now lose their health insurance thanks to the GOP majority—despite the best efforts of coal-state Democrats to change the outcome?Yes, this will be a terrible outcome for a group of people who have really drawn a shitty lot in life. But how sorry should we be for this crowd? Coal country swung hard for Donald Trump, winning 70 to 80 percent of the vote in some of these counties.

I understand the idea behind people living in the community, under the Government that they asked for. There is truth to the fact that as Americans, in our Constitutionally Limited Democratic Republic,. we get the Government we deserve. As Ben Franklin once said when asked if we have a Monarchy or a Republic, responded "a Republic, if you can keep it.".

There is much to worry about with The Donald, his cabinet picks and the complete control of Government by the GOP. A group of narcissistic extremists with an extreme agenda will not be good for anyone.

That being said, I do not wish ill on anyone, While we need to find a way to move our country from coal to renewables, we also need to find a way to transition coal country workers back to employed and productive in other areas. We also need to find a way to not only make sure everyone has health insurance, but the people who do work in jobs like coal mines, are not destined to die a horrible death. Finding joy in others pain, is not a very progressive value, so while Kos goes off the deep end he makes another jump.

Don’t weep for these coal miners, now abandoned by their GOP patrons. They are getting exactly the government that they voted for. Democrats can no longer offer unrequited love and cover for them. And isn’t this what democracy is all about? They won the election! This is what they wanted!Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, Sherrod Brown, and Joe Donnelly got to stand up for those miners, reminding their coal country constituents who is really looking out for them. But when you elect a Republican majority, that’s the government they’re going to get.Exactly as they hoped.

Some counties in coal country went as much as 80% for Trump and 20% for the person who promised they would lose their jobs if she was elected. That makes a minimum of 20% of people in coal country who voted with Markos, are they getting the "Government they deserve"? Is a few casualties fine as long as you can make a point?

Plainfield, Iowa — Before Scott Walker stood on a national stage, he crawled beneath the wooden pews and white steeple of First Baptist Church.His father preached and his mother ran the Sunday school in this Iowa farm town too small to have a stoplight. Growing up in the parsonage next door — in the shadow of the church — Walker learned his first lessons in faith, politics and living a life on public display.

When he was 2, he gave his first speech at the church in Colorado Springs, Colo., where his father worked, telling the parishioners: "May God bless you this Christmas with joy that never ends."

I guess when you can believe that an elf actually can be a world class dentist and that "bumbles bounce" you ccan expand your mind even more to believe that story.

I get that people can move around, but it is very convenient that he can grow up in so many places as long as its convenient. It is almost like he stands for nothing.

Next there is The Donald. Who finally, after several cancellations, came to West Allis for a private fundraiser(he isnt making enough money off the election apparently), and was able to fit in a stop on his "thank you" tour. A few thousand people showed up to yell one last time "put Hillary in prison", before she becomes nothing more than the answer to a trivia question(who was the candidate that actually lost to the guy who said he can start kissing any woman he feels like and grab them by the pu$$y?). Personally, I am hoping when that question comes up in a couple years I have a hard time remembering it!

“He’s like a fine wine: Every day that goes by I get to appreciate his genius more and more,” Trump said, before adding: “Now if he ever goes against me I’m not going to say that.”

Paul Ryan is like table wine, he will continue serving him while he is useful, but the minute he is no longer needed he will be tossed aside like day old bread!!

I am assuming that Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.) is smart enough to pick up on exactly what The Donald said.

Tip O' Neil and Sam Rayburn, are turning over in their graves watching the current Speaker of the House be the house elf, of a non politician reality TV "star". Maybe John Boehner can sneak in sometime and hand Paul Ryan one of The Donald's argyles.

At least Paul Ryan is not alone. His good friend Scott Walker has joined him on the kept politician list!

During the presidential primary, Trump had mocked Walker, saying he was the one who drove Walker out of the 2016 presidential race and "sent him packing like a little boy."

Looks like now, the taxpayers of the US will have to invest in some sort of GPS system so Rick Perry can find his way to work.

Finally, for now, there is the incomparable and unintelligible Sheriff David "vacation" Clarke.

Trump and his campaign used the "rope-a-dope strategy" on the "fake news network," Clarke said, calling out several national media organizations by name as he accused them of trying to "sabotage and undermine" the president-elect."We’re going to have to do a lot more heavy lifting to help Donald Trump and Mike Pence push back against this subversive movement," Clarke told the crowd. "Do you have the pitchforks and torches ready?"

First time in history, the people in power have called for "pitchforks and torches", but no one ever accused Dave of being intelligent or understanding history.

It is going to be a long two years and the Wisconsin far right extremists are going to be right in the middle of the tropical storm Donald. Buckle up!

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Last year, during Scott Walker's spectacular failure as a presidential candidate, he confirmed the fact that he is no foreign relations or election integrity expert. In case anyone might have forgotten these facts, Walker set out to remind them.

Coming back from visiting Wisconsin troops in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Germany, Walker had this to say about the Russian hackers and their interference with the presidential elections:

“I don’t think we want any foreign government trying to influence our election,” Walker told reporters during a briefing about his trip to the Middle East last week.

Walker was responding to a recent Washington Post report that a senior CIA official said there was a consensus in the U.S. intelligence community that individuals with connections to the Russian government gave hacked documents from the Democratic National Committee to WikiLeaks to help Trump win.

“Conversely you had the leader of Scotland endorsing Hillary Clinton, and I don’t think leaders from other countries one way or the other, whether it’s for Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton or any other candidate — I think it’s best left to Americans to make those decisions,” Walker said.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon broke with international protocol when she wrote days before the election that she hoped Clinton would win. Trump is projected to win 306 Electoral College votes compared to Clinton’s 232.

While some Republicans, like Hair Fuhrer Elect Donald Trump has flat out denied that the Russians had done any hacking, much less interfered with our elections in any way, many others are suspicious of it and are sounding the alarm.

But I haven't seen or heard of anyone trying to minimize the effects of the Russian hackers - and to do such a poor job at it - as Walker just did. This is also why you rarely see Walker talking about anything but his scripted one-line talking points.

"You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p**sy. You can do anything." –Donald Trump in a 2005 interview with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush

"Why can’t we use nuclear weapons?" –Donald Trump, reportedly asking a foreign policy adviser three times during a meeting why the U.S. couldn’t use its nuclear weapons stockpile, according to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough

"I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier." –Donald Trump, on receiving a Purple Heart as a gift from a retired lieutenant colonel and supporter (August 2, 2016)

"Who knows?" –Donald Trump, when asked if he would start a war with China as president, New York Times interview, March 25, 2016

"We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated." –Donald Trump on his performance with poorly educated voters who helped him win the Nevada Caucus, Feb. 23, 2016

By Jeff SimpsonRepublican Sean Duffy was in the news recently for calling a million people "communists", Congressman Sean Duffy (R- Puck's Seconds), was very upset about a recent action in the news, so let's take a look.First we need to define Communism:

capitalizeda: a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republicsb: a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of productionc: a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably

When discussing Communism, most people think of the same thing - USSR. The former Soviet Union was a Communist country and currently China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam, are Communist countries. No country on that list will ever be anyone's(Beyond Dennis Rodmans) vacation spot. So when the Congressman calls a group of people "Communists", he really despises and thinks poorly of this group of people. Now lets take a look at who was the despicable and why!1. At the end of 2015, Vladimir Putin lauded Trump's presidential campaign, calling him "an absolute leader of the presidential race, as we see it."

In response to Putin's compliments Trump said: "It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond."

The Democratic leaders in the room unanimously agreed on the need to take the threat seriously. Republicans, however, were divided, with at least two GOP lawmakers reluctant to accede to the White House requests.According to several officials, McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.

4. Wisconsin's own Republican Speaker of the House, the third most powerful position in Washington, Paul Ryan (R- Wall St.), faced with the information that Russia was involved in deciding our election, said - Wait a minute, lets not rush into actually investigating this news because we do not want to politicize the election. The Janesville GOPer, who approved 33 different investigations into Benghazi, has decided that we need to take this one slow. The guy who "has said for months that foreign intervention in our elections is unacceptable,” has decided that as long as his guy won and he has unlimited power maybe foreign intervention in our elections is acceptable.

No that does not phase him. 6. Possibly, as the father of 8 offspring, maybe Mr. Duffy is incredibly upset that his guy, The Donald continually lies and misleads and it does not set a very good example for his kids.

Next is Trump’s claim to have won “one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history.” This is easily falsifiable — Trump won 56.88% of the electoral votes, a percentage that places him in the bottom quarter of electoral history. In this sentence, Trump also states that the election “ended a long time ago” — a curious description of an event that took place four and a half weeks ago.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Today. the assembly Republicans met and Boss Robin Vos handed out committee assignments. With the epic meltdown of the Democratic Party the Republicans have record numbers of representatives. That means there are too many reps for chairmanships, which is fine.

In the latest show of discord between statehouse Republicans, three of the state Assembly’s most conservative extremist members have publicly upbraided their leader, Speaker Robin Vos, for snubbing them for committee leadership posts in 2017.

The interesting thing is who Boss Vos Snubbed. The ALEC employee, who has gerrymandered his district to be the arrogant unethical ass he is without consequences, Robin Vos purposefully left the true believers in the cold. The Glenn Grothman caucus of Jesse Kremer and Andre Jacque, on the people coldest day of the year were both left out in the cold.

While the GOP are notorious for falling into line, they do need to be conjoled, talked to, flirted with and even actually bought(even if they go cheap). That being said, There are a few true believers (who are too extreme for the rest of the crew ) that the leadership knows if they were to be introduced to these reps in force, no amount of gerrymandering could save them.

Being true believers though, the Grothman caucus members can only see the world in a deep right red with no room for other colors, so they fought back and made themselves martyrs!

Andre Jacque had his staff put out a press release he was so upset!

Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, was the most prominent of those snubs. The fourth-term Jacque told the Wisconsin State Journal the appointments are a warning from Vos, R-Rochester, to GOP members that “conservative dissent will not be tolerated and is likely to be dealt with harshly and swiftly.”
“I am proud to continue fighting for Wisconsin taxpayers and the pro-life cause,” Jacque said in a statement. “To the extent I have been and will be ‘punished’ for my efforts on their behalf, I will wear it as a badge of honor.”

According to Andre, fighting for the Wisconsin taxpayers puts him on the outs with Robin And the rest of the WISGOP leadership(term used loosely).

But, wait!! There is more:

Captain of the bathroom police, Jesse Kremer (R-Julaine Appling), who once told me that to seek the truth I should go visit the Creation Museum. Like the WISGOP caucus, the creation museum is where science and common sense go to die, but that is another blog. Jesse Kremer took to social media to whine.

So here's the deal. 64 members of the Republican Party Assembly Caucus in Wisconsin. All but a few returning members received a committee chairmanship today. Janel Brandtjen, André Jacque and I were three that had lobbied for a committee, but were promptly slapped down by the leadership team.I have mixed emotions...1. Yes, it is a slap in the face. I felt that I had a good working relationship with the Speaker's office and kept them apprised of every policy that was being researched in my office. But... I have stood my ground and remained principled even while being pragmatic with my constituent's concerns.I do not work for Madison... I work for all of YOU!2. It is refreshing to know that I have not become part of "Madison politics" and will not be tethered while working on policy issues during the next term.

I know your first thought is - Jesse Kremer's office does research? That was mine also. However the overarching point here is that Boss Vos runs a tight ship, and has to have his hand on everything that happens.

That means he knows that his hold on govt, is fleeting and hanging by a thread. A loss of the redistricting lawsuit, of if people really knew of his private life, would force him to be a slumlord full time. As one of ALEC's favorite conduits, needs to be in power, to allow them to speak through him.

There is not a Jesse Kremer or Andre Jacque that is going to derail that!

Look for Kremer to continue to push the bar way to the right to piss Boss Vos off. I would also recommend attending any of the arts that you want too soon, because when Kremer passes his I'm scared the person in the next stall might be a girl bill, look for our favorite entertainers to boycott us and our tourism dollars to dry up!

It will be an interesting next two years, let us hope that the Democratic party will come out of hiding and provide actual opposition or else the mass casualties of this war will be our public schools, roads, and economy!

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Shortly after the election, Bill Penzey, the CEO of Penzeys Spices, sent out an email decrying the results and the Trump brand of racism and hate that swept the country. It read, in part:

"The open embrace of racism by the Republican Party in this election is now unleashing a wave of ugliness unseen in this country for decades. The American people are taking notice. Let's commit to giving the people a better choice. Our kindness really is our strength."

Since I ask you to read my emails, I feel it's only right that I read each of your replies. In sifting through those replies it was clear that, though not intended, a good number of people seemed to sincerely believe in my statement I was calling all Republicans racists. In the emails of those Republicans who voted for someone other than the party's nominee, I sensed genuine pain at having the strength of character to not go along with what was happening, but nonetheless be grouped in with those who were. I apologize for writing something that caused you pain; that is not the person I want to be. You are your party's future, and you deserve my admiration and respect, and your country's as well.

For the rest of you, you just voted for an openly racist candidate for the presidency of the United States of America. In your defense, most of you did so without thinking of the consequences of your candidate's racism because, for most of you the heartbreaking destruction racism causes has never been anything you or your loved ones have had to experience. But the thing is elections have their consequences. This is no longer sixty years ago. Whether any of us like it or not, for the next four years the 80% of this country who did not just vote for an openly racist candidate are going to treat you like you are the kind of person who would vote for an openly racist candidate.

You can get angry at everyone else for treating you like you just did the thing you just did, or you can take responsibility for your actions and begin to make amends. If you are lucky and younger family members are still coming over for Thanksgiving, before it's too late, take a moment and honestly think about how your actions must look through their eyes. Simply saying "I never thought he'd win" might be enough. But if you have the means, leaving a receipt from a sizable donation to the ACLU or the SPLC accidentally laying around where you carve the turkey, might go over even better.

Right wing Trump apologists were beside themselves in fury and rage. They threatened to bring on a huge boycott and destroy the business.

According to that Dec. 1 email sent to customers, online sales are up 59.9 percent and gift box sales are up 135 percent since those remarks. Apparently, customer loss — even though there were promises of boycott on social media in protest of Penzey's comments — wasn't much of a problem for the spice maker.

"Willing to take a hit for what is right, we did what we did," the company said in Thursday's email. "In the two weeks since, online sales are up 59.9 percent, gift box sales up 135 percent. And we didn't have a catalog arrive in this window this year, while last year we had 1.1 million!

"Yes, maybe for the moment we have lost 3 percent of our customers because of the so-called 'right wing firestorm.' And, yes, they send emails of rage, and ALL CAPS, and bad language with the hope of creating the perception that they are bigger than they really are. But what we learned is that, in terms of retail spending, Donald Trump simply has no one supporting his views for America. He has no constituency."

Looking at the company's Facebook page, the gentle reader can see that the accolades are continuing to pour in, supporting Penzey for his courageous stand.

When I was but a boy, my dear late mother made sure that I knew how to cook so that I could take care of myself when the need arose. Besides teaching me the basics, she also taught me the importance of using the proper ingredients. This included fresh spices from Penzeys. Since then, I refuse to use anything but in cooking my meals. It really is that good.

Kudos to Bill Penzey for putting his personal reputation and his business on the line in order to take a stand for Americans and American values. If only we had more business and civic leaders who show real leadership like he does.

The election is over. My mind is slowly coming out of its frozen, numb state. I’m beginning to do some deep soul searching as to what happened on Tuesday. While many are mourning over Trump’s election, my tears have been for the State of Wisconsin. Dems did not pick up any seats, in fact we lost some. Russ, our progressive leader, lost to a do-nothing candidate. I lost to an even worse do-nothing candidate. How could this have happened?

I declared my candidacy for Representative to Wisconsin’s 32nd Assembly District in December of 2015. We knew we needed time to build our reputation and get the word out about our campaign and our message of bi-partisan reform. From the very beginning I found myself fighting with the state party and the local, county party over resources, access to the VAN and training. I finally realized none would be coming and I honestly think that’s what saved my sanity through the next 10 months.

We formed a grassroots movement made up of fabulous letter writers, activists and volunteers willing to knock doors and make phone calls and people willing to make videos for us and design websites, flyers and banners. We held listening sessions starting in February. We attended community events and fundraisers. We knocked doors every weekend and even during the week, all while I worked 40+ hours farming and teaching at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute. During the last 2 months we upped our game. Wednesday and Friday we held signs and waved at busy intersections throughout the district as people were coming home. Thurs, Sat and Sun we knocked doors to build relationships and let our neighbors know we were going to be there, right by their side, until things improved. Whenever I got a few minutes I worked on my call list of targeted possible Trump Supporters. You see, we knew the stats and reality. Dems can’t win in these districts by only getting out the Dem vote. WI isn’t the 5th worst gerrymandered state in history because of unwillingness to vote. It’s the 5th worst because they (the GOP) did a damn fine job making sure they would never lose a seat.

Even with all of this, I lost. The silver lining is we did do better than both Hillary and Russ in our district so we know we are on to something. This year the anti-establishment craze was so strong, no one even remotely connected to it was safe. My sin was I had a “D” behind my name. Hillary Clinton has 30+ years of ties to Washington and government. While in most years that would be seen as an impressive resume, this year it was the cement shoes that sunk us all. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but some of us have been saying this from the beginning.

I know this will ruffle some feathers, but I don’t blame the people who voted for Trump. I blame the DNC and the DPW. I especially blame the DPW because we all knew how much we needed to pick up some seats in both the Assembly and Senate. There was no mention or support for Assembly or Senate races in the Monday Messages, or the weekly Chair’s Report. Nothing! At the county level, things are so disorganized and short staffed the parties just stood back and let the coordinated campaign take over. Somehow with their fancy “science” and numbers they (The Coordinated Campaign – CC) was able to convince local people, who know the breakdown of D vs R, that it’s ok to just target Dems because, “When people turn out, Dems win!” YAY!!!! Except that didn’t happen. Not only did that not happen, but somehow the GOP got the majority of new voters to come out and vote against someone, instead of for someone, for the first time in a long time.

There were not voter registration drives in my area. There were no listening sessions or town halls to try to spread a message of empowerment and togetherness. Hell, we didn’t even try to talk to people on “the other side” because it was seen as “a waste of time.” A waste of time??? A waste of time to try and pitch your side? To try and see where they are coming from and give them a better option? I was pretty much blown over when I got that response from my local CC organizer. That’s the day I stopped coming into the county office and decided I was officially 100% independent of the party and their support.

Where exactly does the blame lie? I don’t know. I’ll be honest; I don’t know how this whole party thing works. I was naive enough to think if you put yourself out there and sacrificed a year of your life Dems would support you as best as they could. Turns out you have to be in the “inner circle” or a “sure thing” in order to get support and that’s really sad. I honestly don’t know what we could have done differently. We worked our butts off and my opponent literally did nothing.

That’s been the hardest pill to swallow. The fact that an incumbent can have a reputation for not attending district meetings, not responding to citizens’ concerns, and then not even attempt to campaign and still be elected by 20+ points. The reputation of the Democratic Party is so tarnished in the rural areas that a good candidate with an amazing team can’t even have a shot at winning. Where do we go from here?

1) Stronger County PartiesIn my experience, county party boards last for a few years, get burnt out and then everyone quits. There are so few volunteers or members the same handful of people gets stuck doing everything. When they do quit there’s no records or continuity so the whole county has to start over. This is the same for candidates who try to run. No notes on where to leave signs, who’s willing to organize, make calls, knock doors, etc. Even though I declared in December of last year, it really wasn’t until July/August that we finally got things semi-figured out and organized. That’s a lot of wasted time.

The state party needs to re-allocate their budget. All counties should be able to apply for grants and assistance to keep an office open all year, every year. Parties and party members should get involved in the community on off years by volunteering, helping with community fundraisers or holiday meals, you name it. The more active the party is with their community the more support and resources they get from the state. We need our neighbors to see we value them every day, not just 2 months every 4 years.

2) More resources for training and outreachWe need a new message. We need big ideas and we need the courage to stand behind them. This is going to take a whole new approach to messaging, outreach, and basic community building. We need our neighbors to know we are just like them. We, too, want a brighter future for our kids, roads that don’t send our cars to the shop for alignment problems, better paying jobs.

We need monthly workshops on communicating with other viewpoints, on messaging and organizing. We need committees for aspiring writers who can channel their pain and anger into letters to the editor or opinion pieces. We need small subgroups to keep people involved, engage and active. I don’t know about other areas but we go from 200 members in an election year to 80 members a year later. This has to stop. We have to keep our members and continue to grow our county parties, especially with younger blood! (Sorry, not sorry!)

3) Whole New Approach to ElectionsWe cannot continue to pander to people for their vote. We need to start building relationships, lasting relationships. Not just to get through the presidential elections. We also need to change our focus from top of the ticket to bottom of the ticket! We need the majority of resources going to local and state races. The presidential candidates can raise their own money and can pay for their own volunteers. We are going to keep ours!

We live in this state. We don’t get to move back to some other area once the election is lost. Start investing in Wisconsin! Start emphasizing the importance of local candidates, assembly candidates, senate candidates. These are the people who are responsible for the majority of legislation that affects our daily lives. Once we turn the focus to local elections and make people understand how important they are, we don’t have to worry about low voter turnout in mid-term years. Every year is important!

This might be a good place to start, but the important thing is we start. If the state party won’t listen, we do it ourselves. What happened on Tuesday can never happen again! Democrats either need to become the Party of We, the People, or we need to replace them with a party who will. I have to say at this point I’m fine with both options. I’m done talking and thinking and “let’s see-ing.” I want change and I want it now.